Tuesday morning, Russ ran to Destin to take care of business for work.  Lee was borderline sun poison-ish, so he and Kristin went shopping.  And Daddy usually doesn't get out until later in the afternoon.  And if he does, he sits under an umbrella until near 4:00. 

He's always done that. 

Which brings me to the afternoon everyone was coming in from the beach and Dustin says, "Look at that guy."  Kristin says, "It looks like Daddy."  They look again.  It is him.  Sitting in his beach chair laid out right by the tiki hut at the beach entrance.  Random?  Absolutely!  You just never know with him.  Ha!  Once Kristin and Dustin confirmed that he was, in fact, breathing...they made their way to the elevator where the condominium worker asked, "Do you know that guy?"  To which Dustin answered, "Yeah.  That's my dad."  So proud.

I digress.

Soooo...since most of the men had other plans, it was just a mornin' with the girls.

Clancy and Millie Janalee

Millie Janalee didn't seem to mind.  Except for the tiny detail that no one was there to take her out into the ocean.  I'm a champ when it comes to helping her jump waves coming onto the beach.  But way out there?  No ma'am.  There's sharks and sea monsters and whales out there!

Susu, Millie Janalee, Carol, and Emma Kate

So, I got us all loaded up on the wagon and batted my eyelashes ever so politely until Uncie Bucket offered to take the wagon down.  Bless his soul!  He also got Millie Janalee's area all fixed up complete with two umbrellas (one that he may or may not have broken), two baby pools (one filled with water...using a teeny tiny bucket), and her little pink chair.  Let me highlight the fact that there was NO RAMP going from the boardwalk to the sand.  So whoever pulled the wagon downstairs had to lift the two ton thing to get it onto the beach.  Dustin is also Superman.  (My dad is too.  He did it later in the week too.)

Uncie Bucket throwing the girls a little swimming party by filling the pool with more water!

On this particular day, we decided to go up for lunch.  We went in various shifts, so no one had to carry their belongings up.

That was unplanned.

But very nice all the same.

I had counted Millie Janalee's swimwear selection and knew we would not get close to wearing them all.  [This is my excuse for lots of trips to the swimming pool this summer.] So I opted for a wardrobe change.  She was pretty excited about the whole ordeal.  Can you tell?  Special thanks to the Easter Bunny for her cute sunhat and Auntie Kristin for her cover-up.

By the time we came back out, Millie Janalee was ready to relax.  So we did.  Oceanside.  I covered her lathered body with a towel, and we relaxed (while she napped) with the waves crashing at our feet.  She napped for-ev-er!  It was so lovely!  Holding that sweet sweaty head on my chest, looking out at the ocean (which NEVER ever gets old), and feeling the salt water on my feet.  All the while getting the best awkward tan line ever.  I'm calling it a badge of honor that says "I'M A MOTHER!"

By the time she woke up, I'm pretty sure I had worked up a sunburn on my shoulders from not reapplying.  Everyone knows that you never move when holding a sleeping angel.  She popped her little head straight up, as she always does, with those bright blue eyes and smiled at me.  Then she said, "Bwuuun."  We interpret that as "What?" or "One."

I love this girl!

I'm sure you can tell by the quality of the pictures that Russ had returned by this point.  He did not come down to swim or tan.  He was fully clothed.  But, he did take a few pictures.  Which I'm always appreciative of.  Because I have no idea how to work that piece of equipment!  Millie Janalee and I took some time to play in the waves once she woke up good.

The girl loves the water!

Such a beach babe!

It was a great mornin' with the girls!  More importantly, it was a wonderful day with my favorite girl!

Mommy and Millie Janalee

Millie Janalee played with Pawpaw a while, while I worked on evening out those awkward tan lines.  I sat with Dustin and Sheila in the sun for a while longer before we all went in for the day. 

Pawpaw and Millie Janalee

Dustin and Sheila

It has been eight years.  EIGHT YEARS! It has been eight years since I married my high school sweetheart.  Tuesday was our anniversary.  If you've read my blog long enough, you know that it was also my parents' anniversary.  It is tradition that we all go eat at Captain Anderson's for Mama and Daddy's (and now our) anniversary.  It was the only night Nonnie and Pops ate out during our trips.  It's the one night that everyone needs the showers, hair dryers, and mirrors all at the same time.  Ha! 

My sweet family!

Let me help you with that...there were eight adults and a baby using two bathrooms and limited mirrors.  Russ and I didn't have a bathroom or a mirror, so we used my parents' bathroom and the mirror in the living room.  The plugs stopped working because of all the hair dryers and straighteners I'm sure, and the maintenance guy was called.  It's not a beach trip without the maintenance man coming to our room.  We all got dressed and ready for our 8:00 dinner.  And I'm thinking everyone looked very worthy of a Captain Anderson's dinner.

We always know there will be a wait, so we put our name on the list and walk around to look at all the boats.  Deep sea fishing excursions also leave and dock here.  I remember taking many pictures on and near these boats.  I remember particularly a picture of all the grandchildren standing on the ladder of a boat.  That was the year I had a perm.  Maw Maw saw that picture when we got back and said, "I wish you had not done that to your hair."  Thank you, Maw Maw.  I appreciate that.  So that picture is engrained in my memory.

Millie Janalee and Pawpaw

So, Pawpaw took Millie Janalee to look at the boats.  And we all got our annual picture by the huge propeller at the front of the restaurant.  You don't mess with traditions in this family.  We don't like change. 

Have you not heard?

We enjoyed a delicious 8:30 dinner by the window overlooking the ocean and boat dock.  Millie Janalee's bedtime is 8:30 in case you didn't know.  So I did it.  I'm one of those moms.  I brought her iPad with Sesame Street in the restaurant and pulled it out the minute she got fussy.  Our neighboring patrons were thanking us.  Even if they didn't know it.  Because without it, it could've been ugly.

But it wasn't.  Because Millie Janalee is the bomb.com!  (I do realize that is not cool anymore.  But it seemed appropriate.)

Mama and baby girl

Eight years of marriage was celebrated.  And honored.  Russ and I didn't give gifts this year.  Well, he actually gave me extra spending money.  He's so sweet.  On the way down, I looked at him and said, "You didn't get me a gift, did you?"  He was quiet.  "Please tell me you didn't, because I didn't get you one." 

We're so romantic. 

Seriously though.  Gifts is one of my love languages, but I really feel like I have everything I've ever wanted right here.  One look at that smiling blue-eyed face, and I melt every time.  My heart overflows and nearly bursts!  Tears sometimes fill my eyes.  And when I see my little family together and watch her play with her Daddy...I am filled with joy.  I don't need a thing. 

But if someone gave me a gift, I would have to keep it. 

I mean, it'd be rude not to, right?

Meeting Beach Buddies {Day 2}

Our second day on the beach was a day of rest.  You know how you get all excited on the first day and everyone ends up sunburned?  Yeah.  That happened to most of our group.  Except Millie Janalee and me.  Ha!  So most of this group was lathered in anything between SPF 30 and SPF 60...but still in the sun.  We don't use umbrellas. 

We just don't.

On principle I guess.

Dustin and Sheila

Even Millie Janalee took time to rest

We rested until the excitement began!  When my sister, brother, cousin, and myself were younger, we met up with another family who has also been vacationing in their timeshare for many many years.  Kadie was actually closer to Kristin and Dustin's age.  They spent their week playing, parasailing, taking rides with Kadie's mom down "the strip," and playing goofy golf.  There are very few Panama City Beach vacation pictures without Kadie (or her sister) in them. 

Well, Kadie is now married and has a little girl herself.  Carol, Kadie's mom, and I have talked on Facebook leading up to this trip.  We just couldn't wait to get these two together!  Carol and I both have a love for lots and lots and lots of pictures, so we may or may not have discussed the girls' photo shoot wardrobes.  Ha! 

"Well hello there.  Nice to meet you, Emma Kate."

Kadie and her mom brought Emma Kate over to meet Millie Janalee.  They were instant friends.  I'm pretty sure if our chairs had been next to each other, we could have just let them play in the little pool all day.  In between Emma Kate's tendency to chase the "chickies" (birds) around the beach.  Ha!  They will surely be beach buddies for years to come! 

Kadie and I think we could just turn this into a Mudpie advertisement!  Ha!

After our little playdate on the beach, Millie Janalee was absolutely certain that it was time for a nap.  Not more than five minutes after Emma Kate and her family walked away, she was dead to the world...

Oh.  I used an umbrella here.  It was a necessity.

Of course, after a good nap, Millie Janalee was ready for her ocean time with Daddy!  Russ took Millie Janalee out to jump the waves and wade in the water.  Uncie Lee joined them too.  Kristin and I laughed that they looked like "Two Men and a Baby."  All we needed was one more guy to go out there to make it complete.

(In case you didn't get it.  I'm alluding to the movie Three Men and a Baby.)

(Just making that clear.)

Two men and a baby!

Then it happened.  Jack joined them!  Clancy did too, but just for a second imagine that she isn't there.  Those three men and my baby in the big ocean.  A scary sight.  Especially since Millie Janalee kept grabbing for Jack's Bubba Keg.  Oh dear! 

Lee, Russ, Millie Janalee, Jack, Clancy (and Selah Grace!)

Millie Janalee spent the rest of the day sitting in her little pool playing with her boats and shovels and crabs and elephants and buckets.  She was perfectly content under her umbrella.  Even if the rest of us would have no part in it. 

But I couldn't help myself.  I enjoyed lots of good playtime in the shade with my sweet girl!  Who can resist those little hands waving and splashing?  And the squeals and smiles?  Oh, how fun it was!

"Thank you Mama."

Watering my baby.  She's growing!

We made plans to eat at Pier Park Monday night.  We chose Pompano Joe's.  Although it wasn't like the Pompano Joe's we all knew from Destin, the food was very good and the atmosphere was fun.  The beach was across the street and all the walls were open, so we could listen to the waves and the palm tree branches swaying.  A delightful evening.

But I guess in full disclosure, I should say that the inside of the restaurant was very humid as a result of the open walls.  I'd hate for my mom to say, "What about all you said about the heat and humidity and how fussy Millie Janalee was?"  So, I'm telling you now. 

It was humid.

And Millie Janalee was fussy.

Mama and Millie Janalee after supper

But she was a perfectly delightful shopping partner after dinner as we strolled through the shops!

Day two was certainly full of rest, recreation, and really good company!

First Day on the Beach {Day 1}

The Sunday morning sun peaked through the curtains of our bedroom.  I know this because we were already up due to Miss Priss waking up in the middle of the night, sleeping the rest in our bed, and waking up early that morning.  Pretty Girl must've been as excited as her Mama was about seeing the beach.  I pulled the curtains open to our ocean view and sat on the balcony per my normal beach routine.  My mom made delicious muffins for breakfast, and Millie Janalee had her normal bottle and oatmeal.

I anxiously began getting ready for us to head down for the day.  Packing a beach bag with a towel, sunscreen, iPhone, and frozen water bottles no longer cut it.  My mom purchased the most AMAZING beach wagon for us to use getting all our beach accessories down.  Russ, Dustin, and Daddy took turns pulling that big heavy thing down to the beach and back up each day.  They are supermen!

This was taken on the last day, and the wagon wasn't nearly as full as it had been previously in the week.

I say this because the wagon was filled with swimming diapers, regular diapers, wipes, sunscreen (baby and Mama kinds), TWO inflatable pools, Millie Janalee's Adirondack chair, Mama's beach chair, 4-5 towels, a beach tote full of sand toys, a cooler filled with Mama and Daddy drinks and apple juice and baby food and lunches, pool floats, sun hats, a big camera, a small camera, phones, and Russ's iPad for studying.  See?  It was full.

But once I worked myself into a tizzy trying to make sure I had loaded everything we might possibly need and getting Millie Janalee lathered in sunscreen, I grabbed my baby girl and headed down to the beach.  With Russ dragging behind us pulling a two ton wagon!

Beach doll!

I couldn't wait to show her the giant bathtub that is the ocean!  The water was as crystal clear as we've ever seen it and the waves were crashing perfectly on the white sand.  Millie Janalee showed NO fear.  She watched and waved her hands and walked right out toward the water.

When the waves crashed up on her feet and higher on her legs, she was unaffected.  She kept on walking toward the ocean.  The girl is my child!  LOVES the beach!  I should add a sidenote that the dry sand wasn't as much of a success.  But, the wet sand and the water...she loves.

My baby Baywatch girl running toward the ocean

Splashing in the waves!

It's surreal to think about our last beach trip.  Russ and I had the best time and soaked up every second of the fun.  However, during the days when I sat in my beach chair with my feet covered with crashing waves...in those days when I stared out toward the neverending ocean...I thought about bringing our child here.  I wondered when that would be. 

And now, she's here.  And she loved it!

"Do you see that, Daddy?"

My sweet family!  Party of THREE!

Millie Janalee and Russ

After all the lovelies of showing our daughter the beach for the first time, we set up her little camp for the week.  Two umbrellas, two baby pools, and toys!  We used one pool filled with fresh water from the water hose.  The other pool was dry...used for playtime when the water got boring.  Which rarely happened, by the way.  Millie Janalee splished and splashed having the best little time!  Pawpaw pulled up a chair to play too.

Beach babe

Pawpaw and Millie Janalee playing on the beach

After an hour or so of delightful giggles and squeals, Millie Janalee showed clear signs of hunger.  [insert squeals that were not so delightful] And who better to feed the baby in the shade than Susu.  My mom and dad were very helpful and eager to take turns helping with Millie Janalee so I could stay in the sun as much as I could.  I love a good sunny beach time.

Lunchtime with Susu and Pawpaw

And you know what comes shortly after lunch?  Naptime!  Millie Janalee knew exactly what was going on.  While she curled up in Susu's arms for a good beach nap, her Mama had other plans.

"Oh, I see.  I have to take baby naps while you enjoy this sunny day?"

Two minutes later

Thanks to Susu's soft arms who held Millie Janalee for a loooonnnng beach nap, I was able to sit with the girls with my feet in the sand and get some sun!  Something about the heat, sun, and water made our girl sleep much more than normal.  Of course, it worked out because she took amazing naps on the beach!

Kristin, me, and Sheila

The girls enjoyed some girl talk, laughs, and soaking up the sun.  Selah Grace joined us for the sun too.  My cousin Clancy is expecting a baby girl...Selah Grace!  It was so fun watching her sweet tummy in those adorable maternity swimsuits.  This time next year, our beach babies will grow in number!  So fun!

Clancy, me, Sheila, and Kristin

Clancy and Jack (and Selah Grace)

When Millie Janalee woke up from her great nap, Russ took her little sweaty head out to the ocean.  They waded in the water and jumped the waves and played with Clancy a little too!  Millie Janalee is such a good beach baby!  And I'm so glad.  I was a bit worried since she started crawling before we left that we would be chasing a sandy baby all over the place.  But, she sat so nicely in her little pool all day playing with her toys...when she wasn't jumping waves or napping.

Millie Janalee, Russ, and Clancy

I'm seriously trying to come up with a plan to get Millie Janalee and me back to the beach this summer.  Any suggestions on how to concoct this plan?  Ha!  We just had the best time, and I was so happy to share my love for a good beach vacation with my baby girl!

I would say our first day on the beach was even better than I imagined it.  We stayed out all day!  We came up around 4 to get Millie Janalee bathed and fed.  And maybe because Pawpaw and I had a little scare that we let her get sunburned.  It turns out that it was just the pink reflection from the baby pool.  I was like a frantic person bringing her in the condo fearing that I had a lobster-legged baby. 

Now I know.

Life is good at the beach.

Welcome to the Parade! {Arriving at PCB}

My family always goes to the beach the first week after school is out.  It's "Week 22" on our timeshare slot.  We have done this every summer that I remember.  Nonnie and Pops purchased two weeks nearly 30 years ago.  They would always come an extra week alone, and the whole family would come a week while Nonnie and Pops stayed (AND slept on an inflatable mattress under the bar in the dining area).  When our families began to grow in size and in number, we rearranged the two weeks into two condos for one week.  The Smith condo still had two people sleeping in the living room, so this year we lucked out with a three bedroom condo for our group.  It worked out great since Millie Janalee came along this time.  It was just Russ and me that woke up at 3:45 and 5:50 every morning.  Ha!

We all look forward to this time every year!  I was even more excited this year, because I could NOT wait to show Millie Janalee the beach!  The sand, the water, the waves.  It was almost too much to contain.  Russ worked all night Friday night until 8:00 Saturday morning.  We packed the car the night before, and my job was to have myself and Millie Janalee ready to leave when he got home.  We did it!  We stopped by to drop Farley off at the vet, and we were on our way!  I drove and let Russ sleep a bit (Although he didn't sleep much, and he drove the rest of the way after Tupelo.)  Millie Janalee did FAN-TAS-TIC!  We stopped in Tupelo to eat lunch at Atlanta Bread Company, and we stopped two more times.

That is all!

The girl never cried or whimpered at all.  She took two regular naps, and the rest of the time talked and giggled her way to Florida.  She did watch a movie and some Sesame Street after our second stop.  Nine hours is a loooonnnng time to sit in a rear facing car seat with nothing to do.  Ha!

We arrived at our condo just as the rest of our crew was unloading groceries.  They had taken the dreaded and traditional grocery trip to Walmart when they got in town.  We all unloaded together, and Millie Janalee was so excited to play without those shoulder straps and buckles!  Auntie Kristin and Uncie Lee gave Millie Janalee this little Adirondack chair for Easter, and Kristin found the table to go with it.  Millie Janalee loved it!  She really showed out.  She has become mobile since the family last saw her.  And she's doing much more imitating now...as shown by her putting the ring on her head after Auntie Kristin did it.

When we were all settled, Auntie Kristin brought out more surprises.  Millie Janalee knows that when Auntie Kristin comes out with a shopping bag, there is usually something in there for her.  Look at that knowing look she's giving her...

Auntie Kristin took a little Millie Janalee shopping spree at Target, while Maw Maw sent a few things as well.  The story begins when Belk calls Maw Maw personally to let her know the baby clothes are on sale.  Trouble instantly.  I'm sure Belk called every Belk cardholder, but to Maw Maw it was a personal invitation because she is such a loyal and preferred customer.  And she may be for all I know.  The woman LOVES a good Belk sale!

I suppose I really didn't even have to pack clothes for the child, because she now has a whole new wardrobe.  See?  It's not just me.  It's everyone!  Go ahead.  You have a little girl with all the ease of Paypal and cuteness, and see how you turn out!

One of my favorite things were these adorable jelly shoes!  It reminded me of Nonnie.  Which was appropriate since we were on their vacation.  Nonnie always had us jelly shoes, and she also had her own pair.  Or more.  She wore those things way past being in style.  Because, besides Maw Maw, who's grandmother really keeps up with the trends?  That's the comfort of having grandmothers - smells of moth balls, cedar, and jelly shoes!  Ha!  Man, I miss that cedar smell!

Russ and I took a sinful amount of pictures from our week, and you can imagine that I just couldn't reduce them to one summary post.  Soooo....welcome to the parade of Panama City Beach posts! 

We'll be here all week.

Coming Soon...

We're back!  Back from a fun-filled week making memories with family.  I've sifted through most of the pictures.  All 800 of them!  And, I'm squeezing in a little time here and there to work on updating you all on our beach vacation!  In between chasing a very mobile 10 month old around...and taking things away that may be dangerous.  Did you know that everything becomes dangerous at this stage?  Ha!

So stay tuned...